Rocks, Sea, Wood

Some artistic soul found a good spot to place a piece of driftwood.

Brexit: UK Car Makers' Concerns

From euronews - "UK based carmakers voice concerns about Brexit effects"

Fox warns European Union over tariff war, BBC News

Corfu: Time to Set Sail Again

Already left the coast of Epirus...

Farewell to Pantocrator and the Corfu Coastline

First time

Dorset councils' merger plan

From BBC - Dorset councils merger plan survey 'is representative' - "A survey on the future of local government in Dorset which has garnered a response of less than 1% has been defended by the county council leader".

Corfu: Good Street Music

Guitar, bouzouki, 'ud.

The band without a name.

A few days later, with lyra:

Patrick Leigh Fermor: Letters

Read about the new volume of letters

More

A review (The Guardian, Sara Wheeler)

Harry Mount in Literary Review

Letter to Marie Aspioti, from The Letters of Patrick Leigh Fermor, Dashing for the Post
Selected and edited by Adam Sisman

Lesbos (Lesvos), Greece: The Desperate Refugee Situation

From Deutsche Welle - "Fear and frustration for refugees on Lesbos"

Related:

Volos: Marianna Economou Al Jazeera report  - Inside Greece's juvenile prisons - "Juvenile prisons in Greece are packed with young refugees accused of smuggling people across the border".

Minister admits gov't struggling to tackle migration, eKathimerini

On the Trail of African Migrant Smugglers, Spiegel Online

Lesvos at boiling point, Euronews

Russian Week in Corfu

A Russian frigate from the Black Sea Fleet is in port -
an annual goodwill visit to celebrate bilateral links and to commemorate Admiral Fyodor Ushakov (Admiral Ushakov, under whose command the Russian sailors freed the island of Corfu from foreign invaders in 1799).

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/russia/20160924/1045662861/russian-frigate-mediterranean-sea.html

"The Russian Frigate Admiral Grigorovich left the port of Sevastopol for Greece via the Mediterranean Sea, to commemorate Admiral Fyodor Ushakov as a part of the annual Russian week on the Ionian Islands".

The naval band was excellent, the singers outstanding (their resonant bass and baritone voices won many admirers).

Soft power - hard power


On Power (Euronews)

"The frigates, displacing 3,850 tonnes, are designed for anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare as well as for air defense missions, operating both independently or as part of convoys and naval task forces".

Από τη Ρωσία με αγάπη

The audience loved it, in spite of the propaganda element.

Video from enimerosi.com - Συναυλία της μπάντας του Ρωσικού Ναυτικού πραγματοποιήθηκε στην Πλακάδα του Αγίου Σπυρίδωνος.

More on the Russian Week from enimerosi.com

Above: the view from my Kefalomandouko window (for a few more days)-

"The newest frigate of the Russian Federation Black Sea Fleet,

 Admiral Grigorovich. from Sevastopol".

Below: a previous Black Sea Fleet visit

The Corfiots gave the Russians a warm welcome, with a display of traditional Corfiot filoxenia.
It was all strangely reminiscent of the visits by the US Navy's Sixth Fleet back in the 1960s.

Is Corfu becoming a strategic Mediterranean naval destination once again?

Music, song and dance building new bridges in difficult times

This year, it must be hard to decide who else to celebrate apart from Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg and Admiral Fyodor Ushakov.


Two contextual Mediterranean updates from RT

https://www.rt.com/news/361699-syria-russia-navy-missiles/

https://www.rt.com/news/361827-third-ship-syria-op/

From Foreign Policy -

Russian navy ups its game in the Med. "Moscow continues to ramp up its military footprint in and around Syria. Three missile corvettes from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet left their base in Sevastopol earlier this week and will join other Russian warships in the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast. All three ships — The Serpukhov, The Zelyony Dol, and The Mirazh, are equipped with Kalibr and Malakhit cruise missiles. The ships are expected to be joined next month by Moscow’s sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, as FP reported earlier this month".


General updates:

Russia and the West: Where did it all go wrong? Jonathan Marcus, BBC News

Russia accused of ‘posturing’ as its warships head for English Channel, The Independent

Royal Navy set to intercept Russian warship in English Channel as it heads to Mediterranean – media, RT

More from RT

Commentary: Why Putin is unleashing his only aircraft carrier, Reuters

NATO Diplomat Says Russia is Preparing Naval Fleet for Syria, MSN

They get around! Russian warships pass through English Channel, BBC News

Update, March 2017: EU Balkan Concerns, EU Observer

Update, Newsweek, September 2017 - RUSSIAN NAVY WARSHIP HEADS FOR GREEK VACATION HOTSPOT BEFORE JOINING SYRIA WAR